Railway semaphore-signal



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. N. REIFF. RAILWAY SEMAPHORE SIGNAL.

No. 416,074. Patented Nov. 26, 1889.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheet-Sheet 2. G. N. REIFF. RAILWAY SEMAPEORE SIGNAL.

No. 416,074. Patented Nov. 26, 1889.

Q/Vilnmaow 5/ I 6 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAVU S N. REIFF, OF EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY SEMAPHORE-SIGNAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 416,074, dated November 26, 1889.

Application filed August 17, 1889. Serial No. 321.092. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GUsTAVUs N. REIEF, of

Easton, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Semaphore-Signals for Railway and other Uses, of which the following is a specification.

There are at present in use 011 railways two block systems, distinguished as the absolute and the permissive block systems. In the first systemthe absolute blockno following train is allowed on a block until that block is clear, and in this system the semaphore or other signals employed indicate danger and safety. In the second or permissiveblock system a following train is under some conditions allowed upon a block before that block is entirely clear, and in this system the semaphore or other signals are of three kinds, indicating danger, safety, and caution, respectively. Vhen the caution-signal is displayed, it indicates to the engineer that while he may proceed, yet there is a train ahead still upon the block, and therefore he must proceed with extra caution.

My invention has been designed more particularly with reference to the needs of the lastmamed system. In this system the scmaphore is generally used, and the arm or blade for the purposes of the system has three convention al position s-the hori zont-al,in dicatin g danger, the vertical or nearly vertical and lowermost, indicating safety, and a diagonal or intermediate position between these two eXtremes, indicating caution. In practice the arm in its lowest position is not vertical, but stands at an inclination to the vertical, its range of movement being somewhat less than ninety degrees. The objection to this mode of signaling is that, owing to the fact that the semaphore-arm stands at an inclination,whether at safety or caution, the caution position being merely a somewhat more pronounced inclination than the other, engineers and trainmen are liable to mistake caution for safety, and vice versa, this mistake not infrequently resulting disastrously. To remedy this objection,

I have conceived the idea of using two semaphore arms or blades, each of which occupies but the two extreme positions, thus doing away entirely with the intermediate position. Each arm can be operated independently of the other; but they are so arranged that when both are raised to the horizontal one will be back of and wholly obscured by the other. One of these arms is for danger, the other for caution, and they are painted in conventional colors which convey that idea to.

the engineeri. e., the danger-arm is red and the caution-arm is green. The cautionarm is back of the other, so that when both are raised the engineer on the approaching train will see only the danger-signal. By lowering the danger-arm, the caution-arm will be exposed, thus indicating to the engineer that while he may proceed there is still a train ahead on the same block, and the lowering of the caution-arm will indicate that the block is entirely clear. In connec-' tion with these arms, which are for day signaling, there should be correspondingly-colored lights or lenses for night-work. What I prefer for this purpose, in connection with semaphore-arms of the kind now generally in use, are transparent colored sections or glasses or lenses, red and green, respectively, so connected with their respective semaphorearms or the mechanism for operating the same that each shall be brought opposite the usual lamp or light when and only when its appropriate arm is exposed for danger or caution, as the case may be.

In the case of parabolic semaphores, such as described in Koyls Letters Patent- No. 384,170, of June 5, 1888, transparent colored sections or glasses should be arranged so as to intervene between the lamp or source of light and the paraboloidal reflecting-surface of the semaphore-arm; or in lieu of this the lamp might have a party-colored glassthat is to say, a glass consisting of different-colored sectionsand could be so connected to the semaphore-arms or their operating mechanism as to make a partial revolution sufficientto bring between the light and the semaphore-arm the section of colored glass appropriate to the particular arm exposed in horizontal position.

The nature of my invention and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect can best be explained and understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a front elevation of a semaphore-signal embodying my invention in one of its forms. In this figure both arms are raised to the horizontal position, and the danger-arm hides from View the caution-arm. Fig. 2 is alike elevation of the same with the dangerarm lowered to safety position. I11 this figure a portion of the danger-arm is broken away to expose the mechanism by means of which the lens or colored glass of the caution signal is operated from the danger arm. 3 is a like elevation with both arms lowered to safety position. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are corresponding views of a modification. The difference between these two sets of figures is, that in Figs. 1 to 3 the lens or glass is on the opposite side of the pivot from the semaphore, while in Figs. 4 to 6 the lens or glass is on the same .side of the pivot with the semaphore-arm.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures. I

The two semaphore arms or blades A B are hung on the same pivot a on the usual standard or post 0. The danger-arm A is in front of the other, so that when both are raised the latter will be hid from View, as seen in Figs. 1 and 4. The light or lamp for night use is shown at D, fixed to one side of the post.

In Figs. 1 to 3 the red lens or glass A for the danger-arm is fixed to that arm on the opposite side of the pivot from the semaphore-blade proper A in such position that when said blade is raised to horizontal or danger position the glass A will be in the field of the display-aperture of the lamp D. The glass B for the caution-arm, however, is not thus rigidly attached to its arm B, for the reason that it, too, would also be invariably in the field of the lamp whenever its arm was raised to horizontal position, so that should the two arms be raised to horizontal position together there would be two glasses A in the field of the lamp at the same time, which manifestly would not do. It becomes neces sary, therefore, to devise means by which whenever one of the glasses is in the field of the lamp the other shall be out of that field. Various ways of effecting this result will suggest themselves to the skilled mechanic. \Vhat I do is to make the frame of the green or caution glass B separate from the caution-arm B and then to pivot this separate frame to the said arm at Z? on the side of the pivot a opposite the cautionblade proper. On the hub of the pivoted glass-frame B is a toothed segment 0, which meshes with a toothed segment d on the hub of semaphorearm A, the arrangement being such that when both arms are up, as in Fig. 1, the red glass A only will be in the field of the lamp D, While the glass B will be up above that field in a position not to interpose between the lamp and the red glass A. Such is the position of the parts with both arms raised and the signal at danger. If now the arm A be lowered to safety position, as in Fig. 2, this will expose arm B in cantion position. At the same time, by the act of lowering the danger-arm, the danger-glass moving therewith has been lifted above the field of the lamp, while at the same time, by the rotary movement of the hub of arm A, the pivoted frame B has been actuated (through the intermediary of the gearing c d, properly proportioned for the purpose) to move into the field of the lamp. Such is the position of the day and night signal for caution. If now the arm B be lowered, so as to indicate that the block is clear, it will, when it reaches safety position, be again hid from view by the arm A, while at the same time the caution-glass frame B ,during this movement and by the action of the gearing c d, will have been removed from the field of the lamp and returned to its original position in relation to arm A, as seen in Fig. 3, this being the position of the parts of the signal for safety.

In Figs. 4 to 6, inclusive, there is the same mode of operation, the only difference being one of arrangement, due to the fact that the colored glasses A B are on the same side of the pivot to with the semaphore arms or blades proper. In this modification that portion of the arm B which intervenes between the glasses and the lamp D is of annular skeleton form, so as to interpose no obstacle to the free passage of light, and the pivoted glass B, in moving out of the field of the lamp, descends instead of rising, as in Figs. 1 to i The system of rods and levers for operating the semaphore-arms I have not deemed it necessary to describe in detail. They are well known to those skilled in the art, and may be of any approved type.

Having described my invention and th manner in which the same isv or may be carried into effect, I desire to state, in conclusion, that I do not restrict myself to the details hereinbefore set forth in illustration of my invention but \Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a semaphore-signal, the combination, with two'pivoted semaphore-arms, one of which is hid from view by the other when both are in horizontal position, of a lamp or other source of light, a colored glass fixed to and moving with the outer or front semaphore-arm, and a second colored glass pivoted to the rearsemztphore-arm and actuated from In testimony whereof I affix my signature in to or by the front semaphore-arm, at the times presence of two Witnesses. and in the manner substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth. v GUSTAVUS N. REIFF.

2. The combination, with the pivoted semaphore-arms A B, of the glass A fixed to arm Vitnesses: A, the glass B, pivoted to arm B, and the CHARLES HERSCHEL KoYL, gearing c (l, substantially as and for the pur- CHARLES WERKHEISER. poses hereinbefore set forth. 

